V/Region: Angry Kpeve residents burn lorry tyres to protest bad roads

Hundreds of residents in the South Dayi District town of Kpeve in Ghana’s Volta region staged a massive demonstration over failure by the government to fix their roads.

Holding placards with various inscriptions, the red-clad protesters poured onto the streets Tuesday to register their displeasure over the long neglect by successive governments.

In what appeared to be a peaceful demonstration, the angry protesters were seen setting car tyres ablaze amidst chants and war songs on parts of the Eastern Corridor roads that run through Kpeve.

Convener of the “Fix Volta Abandoned Volta Roads” campaign, Joshua Tetteh said their move is not politically motivated.

He said they will undertake a series of demonstrations until work resumes on the roads.

“We are waiting, we want to hear from Government, if we don’t hear from Government we will take the law into our own hands. The same thing was done in Ashaiman, Adenta, Ledzokoku constituency… The citizens demonstrated and the government listened to them. The roads are bad and the people of the Volta region are suffering. I want to emphasize that this is not a partisan demonstration… There will be a constant demonstration until government fixes our roads”, Tetteh told reporters.

Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, who appears to be on the same page with the protesters accused the Akufo-Addo-led administration of deliberately depriving the Volta Region of development, including his constituency.

He called on government to show proof of the road contracts which have been audited already.

“Government operates in a single continuum. So when a government starts a project and it is unable to finish and a new person comes to Government, he ought to continue. You don’t come with a government policy of discontinuation that is what the person detest. The President came to Parliament to tell us, that he has ordered all these projects to be audited and because of that the projects should be halted. It is three years now and we are asking, haven’t they finished with the audit?” the MP quizzed.

“Where are the audit reports? At least some projects would’ve been cleared if indeed there were issues. But they haven’t done anything. Most of those projects are found in the Volta Region. When you get to places likes South Dayi, it is as though we are not part of Ghana,” the furious MP wondered.